at I knew for certain.”
Spent the night, Jeff interpreted. He knew Grey would never say that—he was a very private person, and he was even more careful of Alethia’s privacy. Questions about her from the guys almost always got a shrug and an, Ask her if you really want to know.
But Jeff thought he knew what Grey meant, because the same thing had happened to him.
“That’s exactly right,” Jeff said. “I felt a connection with Leah when I first saw her. But now, now that we’ve spent some time together, I know. She’s my mate.”
Grey nodded approvingly. “Congratulations.”
“But how do I tell her? I’m worried she’s not going to believe me.”
Now Grey’s expression went rueful. “I don’t have any advice for you there, I’m afraid. I didn’t do it too well with Alethia. And she even knew about shifters already. Does Leah...?”
“I told her this morning,” Jeff said. “She seemed happy. She was smiling...” Such a big, wondering smile, like she’d always hoped magic was real, and here was the proof.
“That’s a good sign,” Grey said. “But all you can really do is be honest and hope for the best. There’s no secret method.”
Jeff sighed. “I know.” He straightened. “All right, enough procrastinating. Let’s get to work.”
Grey looked amused, but followed him into the rangers’ headquarters anyway.
***
Leah ended up napping on the couch until Emily woke her up crying.
“Okay, baby,” Leah mumbled, pushing herself to her feet. “Mommy’s coming.”
She made her way into the spare room and picked up her sobbing, wet, hungry daughter, and set about changing her diaper and settling herself on the couch to nurse.
Once Emily was eating, Leah grabbed her phone—and realized she’d been asleep for almost four hours. She stared down at Emily.
“You never sleep that long. Is something wrong?”
Emily chose not to answer, too focused on her meal.
“Maybe you were just tired,” Leah decided. “You didn’t sleep much last night.” And neither had Leah, of course—now that she was waking up a bit, she felt much, much better for the long nap.
Once Emily was done eating, she didn’t want to be put down, and cried when Leah tried to get her to explore the new space. “Okay, okay, if that’s what you want,” Leah said finally, and set Emily on her hip while she looked around for something to do.
It was hard to find anything. There was really nothing to clean, and no chores to do. The place was tidy, the floors were swept, the carpets were vacuumed. There were no dishes in the sink at all.
Remembering Jeff’s instructions, Leah looked in the fridge. She found a Tupperware full of chicken, vegetables, and rice and heated it up for herself. She offered Emily a few bites, but the baby turned her face away.
“Still full, huh?” Leah popped the fork in her own mouth. “More for Mommy.”
Even reheated, the food was delicious, subtly spiced and filling. Leah was impressed. Her own cooking skills tended to be more serviceable than anything; she could put dinner on the table in half an hour or less, but she never had the time to learn new recipes or put together something really elaborate.
When she was finished, she washed her dishes and again found herself with nothing to do. Emily was still being clingy, so she went and sat down in a big comfy armchair in the living room with some books. “Want to read, baby?”
They read a few of Emily’s books, and then Emily wanted to hold the books herself, so Leah handed them over to her and found one of the gardening books she’d brought with her. It had been a long, long time since she’d found a few spare moments to sit down and read.
So they spent the rest of the afternoon like that, and Leah read through a whole section. It had some baby-wrinkled pages by the time she was done, but nothing got ripped, and Emily stayed quiet.
It was wonderful. Just to be able to sit down and read...Leah started thinking about her mom’s place, and the small yard. Maybe she could start a garden there in the spring? If she had the time, she reminded herself, which she might not.
As it got later, Emily started fussing. Leah changed her again, but she wouldn’t calm down even when she was dry, and she didn’t want food, so Leah walked her up and down the hall, bouncing her occasionally, which kept her calmer.
Around five-thirty, the front door opened. “Hello?” Jeff called. “I’m home!”